Do apparatus leave the station with a full crew?Usually - but filling all the seats on our pumper only takes two people.

If you dispatch apparatus with a driver only then how do you organize crews on scene?By task. Need a hose team? It's you, you, and you.

If you do not run trucks (aerials or dedicated truck op apparatus) then how do you form truck companies? (This means 'Do you run truck ops off an Engine, off a Rescue, or some other apparatus?')See previous answer.

Our Department is a combination Career/Volunteer. We have 3 stations that have at least an engine staffed with 3 people, (driver/officer/ff). The rest of the man power comes from off-duty career and the volunteers, both of which respond to the scene. Once there we check in at staging and wait for our assignments.

One station is staffed during the day with a shift firefighter, a part-time daytime firefighter, the Deputy Chief and myself, the Public Education/Training Coordinator. It's also common to have 3-5 volunteers riding out.

At night, the station is staffed with one shift firefighter and 2-8 volunteers riding out.

All other stations are volunteer stations.

We leave with whatever we have on the floor. We do not wait for personnel. Non-Drivers respond directly to the scene. Drivers, for an MVA or fire call, coordinate by radio as to who is available and who is picking up what apparatus.

As a rule, all the apparatus needed from Central will get out of the station with the personnel there. There will be times that the career may be out of the station at lunch, training, hydrant testing, volunteer station maintainence and volunteer staff will respond there and respond with Station 1 apparatus.

Also for fire calls, we have the option of requesting a driver off the parish medic unit to drive either the engine or rescue. As per our mutual aid agreement, at least one member of each medic crew shift has to be trained to pump our engines.

For mutual aid calls, personnel respond either to Central Station or the vollie station closest to the agency requesting mutual aid.

And the answer is, yes, it is the BLUE LIGHT BRIGADE....
Pardon the inside sarcasm...maybe I'm the only one laughing or crying at that one...

It is not uncommon for us to have that kind of turnout for a fire, and our city streets are crowded enough that having that many personal vehicles show up would cause some issues. Our department policy is we always respond from the station. Most of our trucks can seat 5-8, and we can easily roll 2-3 pumpers and a crew cab command truck to most fires. Granted, other calls (medicals, auto alarms, etc.) we might have a lower turnout.

We have SOGs describing what appartatus responds to a type of call (auto alarm vs. car fire vs. structure fire, etc etc) The driver of an apparatus waits two minutes and then rolls.

Originally Posted by Fireeaterbob

Do you have volunteers on station?

No. But we do have a few station managers working during the day, most of them are volunteers.

Originally Posted by Fireeaterbob

Do apparatus leave the station with a full crew?

Sometimes. First due engines leave with either four crew members or after 2 minutes.

Originally Posted by Fireeaterbob

If you dispatch apparatus with a driver only then how do you organize crews on scene?

Report to IC.

Originally Posted by Fireeaterbob

If you do not run trucks (aerials or dedicated truck op apparatus) then how do you form truck companies? (This means 'Do you run truck ops off an Engine, off a Rescue, or some other apparatus?')

We have two ladders for truck ops.

We're fairly lucky in the volunteer world, we have a lot of active members and do not have a problem with getting manpower on scene. On the contrary, it's usually the opposite. We'll have ten members show up for a vehicle lock out!

All responses are from the station. The only usual time someone would POV to the scene is if all the apparatus are already on the road. Even then we go to the station first to see who else is there and maybe fill in any cover companies that had been assigned from mutual aid. In some cases it may be better to be the 4th guy on the MA cover company then the 20'th guy arriving late to the call.

We're a combination department with career staff in-house during the day and volunteer duty crews in-house at night during the week. The only home-response periods are during the weekend.

First-out apparatus should always leave with a crew of at least four. Ideally all subsequent apparatus would also leave with the same. Depending on the time of day, and nature of the call we may roll them without waiting.. up to the Officer/Driver (or IC).

We have a dedicated tower, but that does not mean its crew will be assigned truck-company tasks once on scene. Depends on the other apparatus on scene and the conditions. If the Quint arrived first its crew may have began truck company tasks. If the tower is second due after that then its crew may be assigned Engine work by pulling a line off the Quint.. In general our members are able to perform Engine/Truck/Rescue work independent of what apparatus they arrive on.

My department operates an engine, tanker, combination quick-attack/EMS truck and an equipment truck. We're all volunteer, and turnout gear is in the possession of the member. Due to area of coverage, members closer to the scene than the station respond direct. SOP requires all vehicles respond to all calls inside the township, except for EMS-only calls. Only tanker and equipment truck respond to mutual aid, unless a special request is made for another truck. Engine, tanker and truck are two-person cabs. Equipment van is one-person. We follow state laws regarding vehicle inspection and certification of POVs for use of lights/sirens. SOG encourages donning turnout gear before responding, not after arrival on scene. We have automatic mutual aid in place for structure fires.